Untrained idiots didn't help matters at all, but surely the cruise line will work on PR damage control immediately.

"Giancarlo Sammatrice, 22, a cook from Vittoria, Sicily, was on vacation with his girlfriend. &#8220;I have always been scared of those boats, but my girlfriend kept on saying that it was romantic, and I gave in,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There were not enough lifeboats. The pilots were not sailors but waiters who had no idea how to maneuver and kept on having us turning in circles.&#8221;

&#8220;It was the first and certainly the last cruise of my life,&#8221; he said. "

Then again ...

'Once she boarded a lifeboat, Ms. Grasso said, the helmsman appeared ill equipped to bring the scores of travelers on his vessel to safety: he kept banging into the ship, unable to steer the lifeboat to the shore, until a passenger shoved him aside and took the lead.'

That definitely would have been me - no patience at all for some idiot in an emergency situation.

Completely Out of Ammo

This is a HUGE story that is being suppressed in the (corporate) media.

The captain took off in a lifeboat! Geezus! Here the puke carelessly wrecks the ship and then has the balls to scurry away.

A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays of Marseille, told The Associated Press they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship. They insisted on telling a reporter what they saw, so incensed that &#8212; according to them &#8212; the captain had abandoned the ship before everyone had been evacuated.

"The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, 28, a French military officer.

Completely Out of Ammo

00:32am
The port authority asks the captain, Francesco Schettino, how many people are left on board. He says 200-300, therefore claiming unrealistically that 4,000 people were evacuated in only 40 minutes. It quickly becomes clear he has already abandoned ship.

Schettino: "Now I'll go back up", he claims. "I came out to check out to figure out what was happening."

PA (Port Authority):"Will you be the last on board?"

Schsttino:"I will be the last on board"

00:42am
PA asks how many people still need to be evacuated.

Schettino:"I called and they told me there are about 100 people. I am coordinating the operations. But I can't go back on it. We have abandoned the ship."

PA:"Captain, did you really abandon the ship??"

Schettino:"No, no, I am here, I am coordinating the evacuation."

PA:"Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge. Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties."

Schettino:"How many?"

PA:"You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need."

Completely Out of Ammo

Here is a translation of the transcript of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino, commander of the grounded Costa Concordia, and Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno.

In the conversation, De Falco repeatedly orders Schettino to return to the ship to oversee the evacuation, while Schettino resists, making excuses that it's dark and that the ship is listing.

The audio was first made available on the website of Corriere della Sera, and the Italian coast guard confirmed its authenticity Tuesday to The Associated Press.

___ (Port Authority to cruise ship captain: 'Get on board, damn it')

&#8212;De Falco: "This is De Falco speaking from Livorno. Am I speaking with the commander?"

&#8212;Schettino: "Yes. Good evening, Cmdr. De Falco."

&#8212;De Falco: "Please tell me your name."

&#8212;Schettino: "I'm Cmdr. Schettino, commander."

&#8212;De Falco: "Schettino? Listen Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now you go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I'm recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino..."

&#8212;Schettino: "Commander, let me tell you one thing..."

&#8212;De Falco: "Speak up! Put your hand in front of the microphone and speak more loudly, is that clear?"

&#8212;Schettino: "In this moment, the boat is tipping..."

&#8212;De Falco: "I understand that, listen, there are people that are coming down the pilot ladder of the prow. You go up that pilot ladder, get on that ship and tell me how many people are still on board. And what they need. Is that clear? You need to tell me if there are children, women or people in need of assistance. And tell me the exact number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, that you saved yourself from the sea, but I am going to... I'm going to make sure you get in trouble. ...I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!"

&#8212;Schettino: "Commander, please..."

&#8212;De Falco: "No, please. You now get up and go on board. They are telling me that on board there are still..."

&#8212;Schettino: "I am here with the rescue boats, I am here, I am not going anywhere, I am here..."

&#8212;De Falco: "What are you doing, commander?"

&#8212;Schettino: "I am here to coordinate the rescue..."

&#8212;De Falco: "What are you coordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?"

&#8212;Schettino: "No, I am not refusing."

&#8212;De Falco: "Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?"

&#8212;Schettino: "I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped."

&#8212;De Falco: "You go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'abandon ship.' Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there."

&#8212;Schettino: "Where are your rescuers?"

&#8212;De Falco: "My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino."

&#8212;Schettino: "How many bodies are there?"

&#8212;De Falco: "I don't know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ."

&#8212;Schettino: "But do you realize it is dark and here we can't see anything..."

&#8212;De Falco: "And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"

&#8212;Schettino: "...I am with my second in command."

&#8212;De Falco: "So both of you go up then ... You and your second go on board now. Is that clear?"

&#8212;Schettino: "Commander, I want to go on board, but it is simply that the other boat here ... there are other rescuers. It has stopped and is waiting..."

&#8212;De Falco: "It has been an hour that you have been telling me the same thing. Now, go on board. Go on board! And then tell me immediately how many people there are there."

Well-Known Member

What a horrific incident.
Many people who probably scratched and saved every cent in order to have the vacation of their lives end up dead or abandoned by those who are charged to bring them safely to shore.
How can this 'captain' stand to take another breath?

Active Member

Completely Out of Ammo

I hope someone is covering it. This biggest story in months - and actually something REAL.

Here is the most over-the-top comment from the weasel:

Schettino - "I didn't abandon any ship... because the ship turned on its side quickly and we were catapulted into the water." LOL!!! You can't write stuff like this! Tragic, yes, but so over the top. That giant ship is only 150 METERS from shore, or about a city block in NYC - and he steered it there deliberately to show off the ship to the islanders.

A half hour after the ship hit the rocks - AFTER - Capt Crunch was complaining to the head cook that his date's desert had not shown up yet!!! GEEZUS - I mean comeon - biggest story in a long time. The Captain was more concerned about getting laid than anything else.

He even tried to hop in a cab when he made it to shore telling the cabbie - "Get me as far away from here as possible." This is when hundreds of people onboard were scrambling for their lives and at least one death was already reported.

His life is now over of course. He'll spend at least the next ten years in jail for manslaughter; his 15 yr old daughter won't have a dad; he'll be hated for life and targeted constantly by people wanting to kill him. He's done, but at least he is not going out without showing all of us how low a human being can go.

Completely Out of Ammo

News is coming out that another cruise captain was on board and he helped coordinated the evacuation. He'll be hailed as a super-hero if so since many more would have died if there was no leadership at all.

Captain Crunch on the other hand apparently has restated that he FELL from the ship into a life raft and he really didn't want to leave!!! I mean, like I said before, in terms of over-the-top it doesn't get any better.

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